Port Authority vindicates commuters – sort of

A George Washington Bridge toll lane. Port Authority officials admitted last week that the public hearing process for the 2011 toll increase was flawed.

NEW YORK A big admission to drivers was made after Wednesday’s Port Authority of New York and New Jersey meeting last Wednesday.

Drivers and PATH train riders, who complained about the farce of multiple public hearings on the toll and fare increase, all held on the same summer day in 2011, got an acknowledgment from agency brass that the process was wrong.

Executive Director Patrick Foye, who wasn’t in charge of the agency in 2011, criticized the hearings, which were held during the workday in out-of-the-way Port Authority buildings that were hard for commuters to find.

“I’m not defending the process of holding seven to eight meetings on the same day in Port Authority garages,” Foye said, responding to a media question. “It wasn’t done that way with other increases.”

Foye’s comments are the first admission from an agency official that the toll increase hearing process was flawed.

Did you know there is an administration building for the Holland Tunnel? If you did, would you know how to find it? How about a building at Newark Airport only identified by a number. (Hint: it was not terminals A, B, or C). I couldn’t find that building. I did find a Port Authority technical building in Jersey City where one of the hearings was held. It is located between the inbound and outbound lanes of the Holland Tunnel. Very few regular commuters found it, which included a man who rode a bike there. The hearing room was packed with union members, some of who made impassioned pleas for passage of the toll increases for the jobs they would bring.

AAA of New York still has a lawsuit pending against the Port Authority, seeking to roll back the toll increases. One of their arguments is that the public hearing process was a sham.

As much of a beating as NJ Transit gets, the locations and times of its 2010 fare increase hearings were in places and at times convenient for regular riders to attend, and not at a time deemed convenient for the bureaucrats running the hearings. At one hearing at the Toms River Bus Terminal, commuters literally walked off buses, into the hearing room, said their piece and went home. It also happened that way in Long Branch and in Manalapan. That’s the way government is supposed to work.

The cynical among us would answer “So what? The fares went up anyway.” Yes, but NJ Transit changed the scope of two prior fare increases and left the off-peak discount intact until it was ended in 2010.

The hearing comments are a little bit of cold comfort to drivers and riders, in light of the news that the original draconian package of toll and fare increases was proposed, so that Govs. Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo could demand that the authority scale back the package, by phasing in the hikes instead of taking the full amount immediately. However, Port Authority bridge and tunnel users and PATH riders shouldn’t get their hopes up that those toll increases will be rolled back because the revenue from them is being spent.

A $1.03-billion project to replace close to 600 “suspender ropes,” which are the individual steel cables holding up the George Washington Bridge, is one of them, Foye said. The Port Authoirty board approved those contracts Wednesday.

“It’s being paid for with the toll increases from 2011,” Foye said. “I’m not defending the process, but I will defend the result.”

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About Larry Higgs

Fascinated by anything on wheels, I've been writing about NJ transportation since NJ Transit had a rag tag fleet of hand me down trains and there was no E-Z Pass. A resident of the Parkway for 110 miles a day, I like to cycle in my down time and have started (gingerly) running 5K's.

About this Blog

Alternate Route is about the commuting life, from roads to trains, buses and ferries and will try to get answer questions for the traveling public about what got in your way today. Tidbits of information to make you smile or scratch your head included.